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Italiano Smuggler brands
Smoked by the Cops and the Robbers.
Marlboro's retail market share: $22 BILLION
"Philip Morris and R. J. Reynolds have had a determining role in the direction, management and control of the contraband operations within the European Community … through company directives issued at top company levels" (Official EU Documents).
Marlboros originally, were not so popular in Italy, but after 20 years of smuggling, the brand has become the unquestioned number one, eliminating the competition with its “duty-free” prices. The same thing has happened with Winston in Spain, after the division of the market with RJR.
Today Philip Morris finds itself with a business, the Marlboro brand, with an estimated worth of 22 billion dollars on a worldwide scale. “Marlboro's retail market share is bigger than the next ten cigarette brands combined”, says Jack Holleran, senior vice president of compliance and brand integrity Philip Morris USA.
Paying the European Community a "fine" of 1,200 million dollars, in convenient instalments of 10 million dollars a month, interest-free, for 10 years, Philip Morris has succeeded in crossing over to the opposite side of the barricades. And it appears to have started collaborating with the police… right in the battle against cigarette smuggling!
The Big Tobacco Brands are a case of —Unfair Competition and Racketeering— diabolical and continuous, at the expense of the entire world.
These cigarettes, today, no longer have any competitors; they are making a lot of money and, above all, they are smoked both by the robbers and by the police who go to the stores to buy them.
“Smuggler Customers”
R.J.R. – “Sometime in 1991, RJReynolds distributors notified the company that they had received complaints from smugglers, because — the cardboard boxes the cigarettes were packed in were to flimsy and the goods in them were often damaged —. Smuggled cigarettes travel in many different ways, and sometimes undergo rough treatment that damages the products, so the packing needed to be strengthened. Responding to this problem, RJR increased the resistance of their cardboard boxes for the cigarettes that were to pass through contraband channels”. – Official EU Documents
OLAF in action
RJR – “In order to efficiently carry on the contraband of cigarettes, certain labeling and printing procedures have to be followed at the factory where the cigarettes are produced. Certain labels, health notices and the language used on the packaging have an important effect on the value of the cigarettes at their final destination. The RJR people packed their products in specific ways to satisfy the needs of their smuggler clients”. – Official EU Documents
RJR – “To exercise and to hold on to control over the contraband business, the RJR people asked the smugglers to keep track of their loads, to inform them on where the goods were delivered, and to record the price the cigarettes were sold at. This enabled RJR to keep direct control over the entire contraband procedure. RJR people even threatened the smugglers that if they did not keep suitable registers of their smuggling activities, the RJR people would turn to other smuggling clients”. – Official EU Documents
Philip Morris – “Illegal cigarette sales have become one of the primary vehicles used by drug smugglers to recycle their illicit profits. Philip Morris has become a principal party involved in this activity. Money mediators routinely purchase large quantities of Philip Morris cigarettes with the proceeds they collect from drug dealing. Philip Morris representatives know or should know where these funds come from, but they continue to receive the funds and to sell cigarettes to these people. The smuggling activities of the Philip Morris people have allowed drug lords to recycle their criminal profits” – Official EU Documents
“Efficient system”
After running activities like these, the perpetrator should be to prison. Instead, here is what www.europa.eu.int, the Portal of the European Union said on July 9th 2004:
“The European Commission, together with 10 Member States of the European Union and Philip Morris International, today announced a multi-year agreement that includes an efficient system to fight against future cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting and which ends all litigation between the parties in this area”.
For Big Tobacco, Europe is a tender little pig to be roasted. Big Tobacco, thanks to smuggling, has taken over the whole market, occupying the place of those competitors that the smugglers did not have, or had not been able to take with such organizational efficiency.
This Agreement states that Philip Morris International will work with the European Commission and its anti-fraud office – OLAF. “I welcome the conclusion of the negotiations of this important agreement. This agreement is to the advantage of the EU to protect its financial interests”, said Commission President Romano Prodi.
And it is precisely the OLAF, the European Union's anti-fraud organism, which, instead of looking into this colossal fraud, worthy of the Guinness Book of Records, of Big Tobacco, that is taking place under its nose, has turned its attention, with Philip Morris' full collaboration, right onto Yesmoke. This was reported in the Italian magazine L'Espresso in last September 9th's issue, in an article entitled: “Come è Bello Fumare sul Web” (How Nice it is to Smoke on the Web).
Close those restaurants!
Imagine the “Good Fellas” in that famous film, who go into business opening a restaurant. After a short time all the restaurants in the city have to close because of the “disturbance actions” of those nice guys, and only the Good Fellas are left. In the meantime, they have set up a chain of restaurants that have taken the place of all those restaurants that were forced to close.
At this point, the police, seeing the serious criminal activities taking place in broad daylight, call in the Good Fellas, and ask them to pay a fine (1,200 million dollars), a sum equal to about 5% of the annual revenues of only one of their restaurants (the “Marlboro” restaurant, the one that earns the most). Moreover, this fine can be watered down into convenient installments over a period of 10 years and without interest, a really great deal. And the restaurants are not even closed or seized: they continue their lucrative business even better than before.
The Good Fellas, in return, have to become good guys, to the point where they join the cops in their fight against criminality in the restoration sector. But as the restaurants in the city now all belong to the Good Fellas, there is nothing more to do, except keep watch over the competition, so that no one tries to open any “unauthorized” restaurants.
“Advertising is the soul of business!”
Yesmoke has never spent a single dollar on advertising. Big Tobacco, on the other hand, knows very well that “Advertising is the Soul of Business”. So, why now is the cartel of cigarette manufacturers saying they are willing to abolish all advertising, including Formula 1? With the backing of the European Union.
The prices of the most popular brands are higher than ever, thanks to the “mythical” slogans, and they appear to have no intention of going down in the future. In fact, why should they? As there are no other “restaurants” left.
On July 31st 2005, in full agreement with Big Tobacco, the European Community is going to abolish cigarette advertising, even in formula 1. So no one will be able to launch any new brands, alternative to those that have already penetrated the market through their smuggling activities.
The outcome of all this is that in all the restaurants of the city, you'll be able to eat only canned, precooked or frozen foods, long-life soups taken from 100 liter containers and warmed over in microwave ovens, desserts bought from no one knows who, with unknown ingredients and no expiration date… all perfectly legal! And the prices? The Good Fellas decide those. But don't worry, they have to have police approval…
Who's responsible?
The efforts of the European Community organisms are no match for their adversary Philip Morris; they seem to be too culturally and intellectively limited to clearly understand the situation, so that they hold up to ridicule the Community they are supposed to represent. But similar lacks and limits are not justifiable or permissible. They should be investigated and judged guilty.
It is unthinkable that in Europe, there is no one able to defend the citizens in appropriate ways in cases like these.
A real effective and fair proposal would be to ban those brands that have penetrated the market by smuggling at the expense of the competition. Only then could we put an end to this continual theft and to a grotesque situation.
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